TO THE WEST!

Well, I've had some time to think about things over the last few days, days that have been filled with far too much sadness to re-tell and re-live, but I think it's time for a change.  I think it's time to head west, as much for a change of scenery as a change of perspective. You might call it a mid-life crisis, but I frankly think I'm already too old for that. I'm not itching for a girlfriend half my age or a ragtop Porsche (not that I would turn them down if offered....), or anything to mask the grey on my temples. It's just TIME, time to regroup and rethink a lot of things and spend some time where I've spent far too little time. And there's been a Public Relations Director job with Charles Schwab that's been calling my name for years and I think I'm ready for the challenge. And so do they. So I'm 'Frisco-bound.

With the help of my good friend, Philly radio icon Pierre Robert, I'll be borrowing his famous VW bus "Minerva" (below) in which he trekked his way to Philly some 30 odd years ago to ply his music-spinning trade, and heading west to where the wind and Minerva's sturdy engine will take me. Pierre assures me that Minerva comes with tons of good karma accumulated over the years and will carry me in good stead (along with anything I might find in the many crevices of his cleverly designed home-away-from-home.

This will, alas, be a solo project. The twins have no such wanderlust desires, and besides, as they matter-of-factly pointed out to me yesterday, they're just starting Little League and the season begins next Saturday. The Queen (more about her later), will hold the fort and get to enjoy each and every one of those Little League games and hopefully text some photos from time to time. She actually seemed quite eager to help me pack, despite the sling she's wearing after her recent rotator cuff surgery. It's good to have help and even some enthusiasm.

So, off I go, hoping to stop by to see friends and family in Ohio, Chicago, Oklahoma City and maybe even Austin. Some hot dogs and deep dish in Chi-town sure might hit the spot. And some onion burgers and chicken fried steak in OKC, maybe even time for some cigars and fedora shopping with my dear friend  Bob. Some barbecue outside of Austin will be a must-stop as well.

WIsh me luck. Can't wait to catch sight of that Golden Gate bridge, God and Minerva both willing.  Keep in touch here with suggestions for stops along the way. I hear it's a pretty long drive.

My Buddy

I lost a dear friend of 14 years this morning, my cat Sammy, my nighttime TV buddy, my sleep-on-my-legs-until-they-went-numb big ol' cat, as gentle a soul as you'd ever meet (and a bunch of you have met him over the years), shy but friendly, and loyal to the point of being a guard cat. He had been in failing health, lost a lot of weight, was diagnosed with fatty liver disease and pancreatitis and anemia, and was unfortunately not particularly well cared for by the hospital we took him to, but we'll be taking care of that, don't worry.
Woke up with him this morning, after a couple of pretty frail days, and he was awake and looking at me, and then he just left, right then and there. Pretty startling moment, very quiet and calm, 8 am on the dot. Don't know why I noticed that, but I did.

Always called him my buddy, and that's what he'll always be.

Down In Flames

I promised myself this year that I would low-key my March Madness brackets activity, and for the most part, I have.  I've entered 9 different bracket challenges this, contest with all sorts of prizes and awards. But after Thursday's and Friday's stunning upsets, there isn't going to me that much to talk about.

My brackets are in ruins.

But so are most of America's. Who would have EVER picked Harvard to upset New Mexico so stunningly? Or Wichita State to stomp all over Pittsburgh? Ole Miss taking out Wisconsin? Or Florida Gulf Coast University blowing the doors off Georgetown?  C'mon now. Nobody saw these coming.

So enjoy the Cinderellas and the Big Boys and see who's gonna topple another basketball icon.  You know they'll be a few more. You just know it.

As for me, I'm gonn na sxee how Far Temple and Lasalle can take themselves this year. I've got a good feeling about Lasalle. Even though I picked them to lose from the beginning.

Catching Up. It's Been A While.

Yes, it has been a while. And a lot has happened since we last met on this blog.  Thanksgiving (yes, the Beaujolais Nouveau was spectacular with dinner last year). Another awesome Seven Fishes Dinner with the Attanasis and their friends in Cranford (I made maple-glazed salmon again, by request, and it was the best version to date). Christmas (quiet). A serious health scare that is being taken care of (not completely out of the woods, but close). New Year's (quieter but poignant for reasons I can't really discuss here). Actual Christmas get-together was January 6 at Mom's in Moosic, where many gifts were had by all (the children) and even more gnochhis and meatballs were consumed. Sophie and Ben began winter clinics for Little League and Girls' Softball in Lawrenceville in the spring (so far, Sophie can hit! And Ben can throw!). I mourned the death of a dear friend's grandfather (at 99!), a full-of-life man that was my friend's hero and role model. Sadness and joy for his life, enough to fill a stadium. Gives you pause and makes you reflect.
Valentine's Day was briefly and sweetly romantic.  I'll tell you why soon.

And that pretty much brings us up to date.


My next post will be about casseroles. I've been getting into that food genre, and, actually, so far so good!
My Salsa Chicken Rice casserole is to die for!  I swear. And you can make it as easily as I did.You'll see. Very soon.

Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrive!

Today IS the day. My personal favorite wine day of the year.  But first, a little background:

At one past midnight on the third Thursday of each November, from little villages and towns like Romanèche-Thorins, over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau begin their journey through a sleeping France to Paris for immediate shipment to all parts of the world. Banners proclaim the good news: "Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!(The New Beaujolais has arrived!)" One of the most frivolous and animated rituals in the wine world has begun.
By the time it is over, over 65 million bottles, nearly half of the region's total annual production, will be distributed and drunk around the world. It has become a worldwide race to be the first to serve to this new wine of the harvest. In doing so, it has been carried by motorcycle, balloon, truck, helicopter, jet, elephant, runners and rickshaws to get it to its final destination. It is amazing to realize that just weeks before this wine was a cluster of grapes in a growers vineyard. But by an expeditious harvest, a rapid fermentation, and a speedy bottling, all is ready at the midnight hour.

Beaujolais Nouveau began as a local phenomenon in the local bars, cafes, and bistros of Beaujolais and Lyons. Each fall the new Beaujolais would arrive with much fanfare. In pitchers filled from the growers barrels, wine was drunk by an eager population. It was wine made fast to drink while the better Beaujolais was taking a more leisurely course. Eventually, the government stepped into regulate the sale of all this quickly transported, free-flowing wine. In 1938 regulations and restrictions were put in place to restrict the where, when, and how of all this carrying on. After the war years, in 1951, these regulations were revoked by the region's governing body, the Union Interprofessional des Vins de Beaujolais (UIVB), and the Beaujolais Nouveau was officially recognized. The official release date was set for November 15th. Beaujolais Nouveau was officially born. By this time, what was just a local tradition had gained so much popularity that the news of it reached Paris. The race was born. It wasn't long thereafter that the word spilled out of France and around the world. In 1985, the date was again changed, this time to the third Thursday of November tying it to a weekend and making the celebration complete. But wherever the new Beaujolais went, importers had to agree not to sell it before midnight on the third Thursday of November.
(courtesy of IntoWine.com)


*****TASTING NOTES: This year's Nouveau (I'm drinking Georges Debeouf's version, $7.33 with my Bottle Club discount at Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville. There are other bottlings, but they can be difficult to find) explodes with fresh cherries in the nose, filling the glass and eventually the immediate vicinity of the glass with cherry aromas. Also strong hints of raspberries in the first sip, along with earth, then vine, then semi-sweet grape jam as you swallow. The finish leaves a distinct grape-jam-on-toast taste on the palate, a deja vu from childhood. There's some structure here, though, and more tannins in subsequent sips than you might expect. This wine will pair superbly with the herby-spicy stuffings on Thanksgiving, as well as the buttery mashed potatoes, green vegetables and even cranberry sauce served over the holiday.  I actually think this might be a great quaff with the turkey sandwiches made from leftovers on the holiday weekend, too.  Pretty strong edition of Nouveau this year.*****

I know the enthusiasm for Nouveau has died down a bit in and around Philly. Celebrations around the world are expected to be more restrained than usual, as a very bad harvest has limited the production of the wine to about half of what is typically produced. It is still an unofficial holiday today in Washington DC. And in cities such as Chicago and Seattle there are still big celebrations and avid celebrants.

This remains a great day to quaff this simple, earthy, slightly fizzy preview of the French Gamay Beaujolais vintages for 2012, and to toast friendship, life and love.  And to score some bottles for Thanksgiving. It's still my favorite beverage on Turkey Day, an almost perfect foil for the savory and sweet flavors that mash together on the holiday.

So raise a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau today. There's still a lot to celebrate.  Many of us on the East Coast have survived an horrific hurricane unscathed. And love is in the air.

Au votre sante!

HOT DOG NATION

Saturday marked the 9th Annual NJ Hot Dog Tour, and for my fifth year, I was on it.  The Tour, conceived by retired  NYC police officer Erwin "Benzee" Benz and noted hot dog authority John Fox, who hails from Union, NJ, is the one of the best gatherings of food nerds I've ever met.  The folks on the Tour are something beyond hot dog aficionados; they are fanatical in their love of tube steak. Some, like John Fox, are as interested in the provenance of  their dog (where it was made, the meats used, the style and seasoning of the meat, the relative size per pound, the nature of the bun, the cooking process) as anything else.  It makes for fascinating conversation along the Tour, and spirited debate and discussion, post-Tour.

TWO busloads of the fanatics assembled at the traditional starting point for the Tour, the famous Galloping Hill Inn in Union.  Big hot dogs here, with large (too large, in my opinion) custom buns and a variety of toppings. I won't get into those nerdy details here; you can visit www.roadfood.com and the Hot Dog Nation page on Facebook for all the picayune details.  I'm gonna post some tasty pics here and a little bit of commentary, and that's all. Below: my dog at Galloping Hill, with mustard, chili and onions.

This year's Tour featured stops at some old favorites from previous Tours, as well as a couple of new stops. I tried to tweet live from each stop, but you can get caught up in the joking and sheer gastronomic fun of it all, and perhaps miss a few shots, but I think I caught most of everything sampled by the group on Saturday.

Case in point with the photo at the top of this post: that what's left of my hot dog from Marcie's Dog House in Clark, a well-equipped truck stationed in a municipal park, dispensing  a natural casing Sabrett hot dog, topped with a special sauerkraut, a blend of mustard, relish and cabbage, a terrific topping and a terrific dog.
Marcie's also turns out an excellent version of the North Jersey style Italian hot dog (pic below), a deep fried dog tucked into a half-moon of pizza dough ("pizza bread" in the local lingo) hollowed out to fit the dog, onion, peppers and fried potatoes. My tablemates thought highly of Marcie's version:

Next, we hit another hot dog truck, Uncle Petey's Weenies in Colonia, with a tasty chili dog and a special quarter-pound German-style dog, pictured below. I went for the chili dog, pacing myself and trying to hew as close to my low-glycemic-index diet as I could.  But this was a popular choice among a lot of the Tour-goers:

We headed to Elizabeth next, and two classic hot dog vendors virtually next door to one another. Jerry's Famous Frankfurters is as old-school and low-tech as it gets, just a simple walk-up window, strictly takeout, but for me, they make my favorite hot dog on this year's Tour, a grfilled, natural casing dog with a good snap, with mustard and red sauced cooked onions.  Simply spectacular:

Just a few doors away sits Tommy's, serving from a similar walk-up window both Italian sausage and hot dogs, and specializing in the North Jersey style Italian dog. Tommy's serves the best version of the genre I've ever had. Diet notwithstanding, I ordered one, pretty much passed up on the pizza bread and potatoes, and enjoyed the dog, onions, peppers, mustard and ketchup:

(yes, there's a hot dog in there somewhere)

Our last stop is an appropriately raucous and fun place, Manny's Texas Weiners in Union.  It's a fun place in part because owner Manny Niotis is a gregarious, back-slapping host and showman. It's also because he serves up righteously good dogs and a huge menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner favorites.  The pick here is the classic texas weiner, with mustard, onions and "Greek sauce", an earthy, dark, spicy ground meat sauce with noticeable clove, cinnamon and nutmeg in the mix, in the traditional Greek sauce tradition. "We open in 1979, and we've been busy since then," Manny told us as he greeted us in the parking lot of his busy restaurant.  No doubt due in great part  to this terrific dog:

So I've been on 5 of these NJ Hot Dog Tours, and this was the first one on which I didn't feel stuffed, bloated or otherwise uncomfortable.  I avoided as much bun as possible at each stop, drank water instead of any beer (I had permission from my doctor and dietician to eat on the Tour, but had to pick my indulgance; it was a hot dog tour after all), and didn't finish but a couple of dogs.  We also only hot 6 stops; previously we had hit as many as 8.

But it was great fun, in no small part to Benzee and Fox, who timed and mapped the Tour flawlessly, briefed us on the busses about our choices at each stop,and kept an even keel and good humor from start to finish.

Next year's Tour has already been scheduled: September 21, 2013. You should be a part of this bunch next year. You'll have a blast.

47 POUNDS!

I thought a lot about what to cover when I returned to blogging after an over 2 months absence. A vacation in the US Virgin Islands with the kids that included the impeccable beaches of St John?  Beers for my birthday at the St John's Brewers brewpub, the only decent brewpub in the Caribbean? Visiting the oldest active synagogue in the Western Hemisphere on St Thomas of all places?? Swimming all summer with the kids in the sweltering heat?  My ever expanding list of ailments and afflictions? I have to admit, none of that got my journalistic juices flowing.

But this week's haul from the Honey Brook Organic Farm caught my attention. The photo above shows you just the tomato portion of this week's share. That's 47 POUNDS of tomatoes in huge baskets and bowls on my kitchen counter, the single largest take-home of tomatoes we've had in the 7 years we've belonged to the Farm. In the foreground are two bowls of just heirloom varieties, in shades of green, purple, yellow, orange and dark pink. The background bowl and basket hold 30 lobs of "regular" and sauce tomatoes.

Yes, there will be ample amounts of insalata caprese  served at Casa Lawrenceville this week and next.and gallons of  fresh tomato sauce to be made.  And I suspect there will tons more tomatoes still to be shared in the coming weeks.

I better get to work. First up: some stuffed red peppers with fresh tomato sauce for dinner!

It's good to be back.